The Jewish Community Center of Bayonne’s Indoor Soccer Senior Division hit the halfway mark of its 2013 season with all three teams battling for the top spot. At (1-1), the Sonics have won impressively while also losing due to a lackluster effort. For the Rockets (1-2), it has been a bumpy road in the early going with plenty of missed opportunities for the victories mounting. Right from the start, both the Sonics and Rockets locked horns in a defensive stalemate with James Johnson, Kevin Aguilar, Ryan Ballance, and Tyler Cholankeril holding the fort for the Sonics, while Chris Shaw, Meghann Mock, Colin Woods, and Mackenzie Woods did the heavy lifting for the Rockets’ defensive ranks.

With less than 15 minutes remaining, the Rockets finally cracked the code as Chris Shaw sailed a long pass to Madison Neal Markowski, who pounded in the game’s first goal, making it 1-0, Rockets.It took the Sonics’ big guns just one minute to answer as Shashwat Punjani zipped the ball to Ajay Lal, who knotted the bout at 1-1 with his first goal of the season. The deadlock continued until the Rockets’ Kaitlin Morrell blasted in a laser shot off an assist from Madison Neal Markowski to give her squad a 2-1 advantage. Trailing by a goal with time running down, the Sonics exploded with seven shots on net as Chloe Gregory, Brandon Ferreira, and James Johnson unleashed one fireball after another. But in the end, Chris Shaw and the Rockets’ defense hung in there to clinch a hard-fought 2-1 victory.